Bellari VP129
I have found some difficulty writing this review, which I'll do my best here to explain. The reason is due to the fact that I've had limited down time to listen over the past couple of days, so I've spent all of my time listening rather then writing. In other words, I would have to stop listening to music in order to write a review, and I just don't want to stop listening to music with this new preamp in place. If you think this is an indication of a positive review- it is.
When Larry offered to send the Bellari out for a trial, I was interested in what it could possibly offer in my current set up. I've been longing for a separate phono preamp to replace my current preamp, a Denon DAP2500, which, while not bad per se, it is an over-sized over-featured box that I only needed the phono section for now. The Denon has been a trusty standby, helpful to make comparisons between components and has found it's way back in rotation many times, rather then out. However, I've been ready for an upgrade or some time. Also, given the fact that my Jolida 502brc was already an integrated, I wanted to simplify things. Of course given the Bellari's small size, it was easy to set right between the Jolida and my turntable, a Technics SL-23.
On the Technics, I have an Audio Technica 440mla which I've been messing with for about 2 months now. Despite some issues regarding low level noise, (which has pointed to a possible tonearm rewire, as also experienced on a different cart), the sound never gets in the way of listening to music through the system. I have had several different budget turntable/cartridge arrangements, all either returned, given away or tossed. I can truly say that this combination has by far been the best I have had. Without going on too much more about it, I will say that the 440 gets deep into the grooves, tracks wonderfully, provides a great deal of info and has a wonderful midrange. It does seem to have an upward tilt above the vocal range, which can come off as a little bright. If your looking for something more on the really mellow side, this might not be your cartridge. Or you could try a different preamp with it....
To give a final snapshot on the system, everything is being monitored on a pair of Snell C-IV's in a room that is approximately 12 x 14 with a 4 x 6 entry. Horse-Hair/plaster ceiling, carpet on hardwood with a few small hanging blankets. A truly big set of speakers for a small room, but taking the time to tame thier potentially aggressive nature, with tubes and vinyl, has proven to be very rewarding.
Setting up the Bellari was a pretty simple task. It's a nifty little box with a wall-wort power supply. Solid feeling, nice cage protection for the tube. (The tube was personally rolled by Larry, which is a Sovtek 12AX7, and based on how well this works with it, you should have him roll one for you if you get a Bellari from him) The controls and RCA's are pretty basic feeling, reflective of a budget minded component. I'm not sure why they omitted a power switch though, and in my opinion would have been handier then the mute switch which I will likely never use. I read about the gain being a bit low on these pre's but with my current MM cartridge, I cannot for the life of me find any issues with it. In fact, I have the setting at about 11 o'clock. I could go a little lower even, and that's on the Jolida which has only a passive preamp section. I have not yet engaged the rumble switch. No headphone tests.
The very first LP I tried was a Miles Davis record, Seven Steps to Heaven. While it is not even close to being my favorite LP, I had to hear what he sounded like on the first track "Basin Street Blues". This track has been a bit nerve racking for me. There is something about that close-miked horn that made me very uncomfortable, making me want to just turn it down and pray that it would end soon. However, when I first listened to it through the Bellari I thought- wow, I CAN listen to this!?!?. I absolutely could. But I wasn't really convinced yet. I thought that it was likely some additional tube~smoothness that could negatively effect
other recordings, so I listened on. What I found was something very different altogether. With the next track,
Miles removed from the close-mike, playing with the band, I found that not only was it not smoothed out, it
sounded extremely well balanced with the cartridge. Bass lines were more defined and symbols had shimmer that I would usually associate with a good set of headphones, or systems that are much more expensive that I've heard. It has been very challenging for me to get an overall improvement in the sound of symbols with this system/these speakers. I couldn't shake the sand out and this was the first really big improvement. Bravo. There was also a nice depth and focus that added a more three-dimensional soundstage, very cool. So really, after the first two tracks on this LP, I was already sold. But of course I needed to try more.
I have a copy of Chick Corea/Return to Forever, which was an early purchase I made getting back into vinyl. It's sort of an odd album to me, as I like more classic style Jazz, but it's kind of interesting to listen too. Some of the keyboarding has a cool pulsing sound that is kind of intoxicating, which was also not missed by this pre, and yet there were even more subtleties in the music that I could hear with more definition then before. The tune "Crystal Silence" has an array of chimes that pan between the speakers which had a new, spooky kind of realism which I have never experienced before. Also, the female vocalist who appears throughout the album was much more convincing, and was easier to locate in the overall image.
I've poured over a pretty good bunch of albums Steely Dan, more jazz, classical. I also cued up Chet Atkins CGP, which is a bit of ho-hum newer studio album, with 80's frilly effects but amazingly realistic and on point everywhere with this new pre. Chets' voice on the final track was rich and life-like.
A bit more on sound. One thing I do tend to focus on often is piano. I've had some strange experiences in the past, going from solid state amplification to tube, where I get a bit of blurring on piano notes with the Jolida, and a tighter focus on SS. I thought that possibly the effect would not only continue to manifest itself, but worsen with even more tubes in the chain. This was not the case here, and if anything this has improved. It's a bit of a head scratcher really. But with all these other improvements, it makes me wonder what is really going on with the old Denon preamp, and why the Bellari isn't more "lush" sounding. On Bass performance, there is nothing extra here, maybe even a slight loss of deep bass energy but not disappointing, especially when I hear more details from bass instruments themselves, which is more of an asset then a liability for me personally. Of course this may be cause for interconnect and tube experimentation.
Overall the Bellari is one sweet little preamp that appears to be a nice match-up to the AT440mla. I feel that I have struck some synergistic gold with it in my system, and it will be interesting to see how well it
continues to satisfy my cravings for high quality playback. The fact that it is single tube only, offers very
attainable options that might be fun to try. I would encourage anyone to just try it out, but be warned, you
may find yourself wanting to keep it. For now, I wouldn't want to be without it and this one has found a new home.
Cheers,
Joe
I have found some difficulty writing this review, which I'll do my best here to explain. The reason is due to the fact that I've had limited down time to listen over the past couple of days, so I've spent all of my time listening rather then writing. In other words, I would have to stop listening to music in order to write a review, and I just don't want to stop listening to music with this new preamp in place. If you think this is an indication of a positive review- it is.
When Larry offered to send the Bellari out for a trial, I was interested in what it could possibly offer in my current set up. I've been longing for a separate phono preamp to replace my current preamp, a Denon DAP2500, which, while not bad per se, it is an over-sized over-featured box that I only needed the phono section for now. The Denon has been a trusty standby, helpful to make comparisons between components and has found it's way back in rotation many times, rather then out. However, I've been ready for an upgrade or some time. Also, given the fact that my Jolida 502brc was already an integrated, I wanted to simplify things. Of course given the Bellari's small size, it was easy to set right between the Jolida and my turntable, a Technics SL-23.
On the Technics, I have an Audio Technica 440mla which I've been messing with for about 2 months now. Despite some issues regarding low level noise, (which has pointed to a possible tonearm rewire, as also experienced on a different cart), the sound never gets in the way of listening to music through the system. I have had several different budget turntable/cartridge arrangements, all either returned, given away or tossed. I can truly say that this combination has by far been the best I have had. Without going on too much more about it, I will say that the 440 gets deep into the grooves, tracks wonderfully, provides a great deal of info and has a wonderful midrange. It does seem to have an upward tilt above the vocal range, which can come off as a little bright. If your looking for something more on the really mellow side, this might not be your cartridge. Or you could try a different preamp with it....
To give a final snapshot on the system, everything is being monitored on a pair of Snell C-IV's in a room that is approximately 12 x 14 with a 4 x 6 entry. Horse-Hair/plaster ceiling, carpet on hardwood with a few small hanging blankets. A truly big set of speakers for a small room, but taking the time to tame thier potentially aggressive nature, with tubes and vinyl, has proven to be very rewarding.
Setting up the Bellari was a pretty simple task. It's a nifty little box with a wall-wort power supply. Solid feeling, nice cage protection for the tube. (The tube was personally rolled by Larry, which is a Sovtek 12AX7, and based on how well this works with it, you should have him roll one for you if you get a Bellari from him) The controls and RCA's are pretty basic feeling, reflective of a budget minded component. I'm not sure why they omitted a power switch though, and in my opinion would have been handier then the mute switch which I will likely never use. I read about the gain being a bit low on these pre's but with my current MM cartridge, I cannot for the life of me find any issues with it. In fact, I have the setting at about 11 o'clock. I could go a little lower even, and that's on the Jolida which has only a passive preamp section. I have not yet engaged the rumble switch. No headphone tests.
The very first LP I tried was a Miles Davis record, Seven Steps to Heaven. While it is not even close to being my favorite LP, I had to hear what he sounded like on the first track "Basin Street Blues". This track has been a bit nerve racking for me. There is something about that close-miked horn that made me very uncomfortable, making me want to just turn it down and pray that it would end soon. However, when I first listened to it through the Bellari I thought- wow, I CAN listen to this!?!?. I absolutely could. But I wasn't really convinced yet. I thought that it was likely some additional tube~smoothness that could negatively effect
other recordings, so I listened on. What I found was something very different altogether. With the next track,
Miles removed from the close-mike, playing with the band, I found that not only was it not smoothed out, it
sounded extremely well balanced with the cartridge. Bass lines were more defined and symbols had shimmer that I would usually associate with a good set of headphones, or systems that are much more expensive that I've heard. It has been very challenging for me to get an overall improvement in the sound of symbols with this system/these speakers. I couldn't shake the sand out and this was the first really big improvement. Bravo. There was also a nice depth and focus that added a more three-dimensional soundstage, very cool. So really, after the first two tracks on this LP, I was already sold. But of course I needed to try more.
I have a copy of Chick Corea/Return to Forever, which was an early purchase I made getting back into vinyl. It's sort of an odd album to me, as I like more classic style Jazz, but it's kind of interesting to listen too. Some of the keyboarding has a cool pulsing sound that is kind of intoxicating, which was also not missed by this pre, and yet there were even more subtleties in the music that I could hear with more definition then before. The tune "Crystal Silence" has an array of chimes that pan between the speakers which had a new, spooky kind of realism which I have never experienced before. Also, the female vocalist who appears throughout the album was much more convincing, and was easier to locate in the overall image.
I've poured over a pretty good bunch of albums Steely Dan, more jazz, classical. I also cued up Chet Atkins CGP, which is a bit of ho-hum newer studio album, with 80's frilly effects but amazingly realistic and on point everywhere with this new pre. Chets' voice on the final track was rich and life-like.
A bit more on sound. One thing I do tend to focus on often is piano. I've had some strange experiences in the past, going from solid state amplification to tube, where I get a bit of blurring on piano notes with the Jolida, and a tighter focus on SS. I thought that possibly the effect would not only continue to manifest itself, but worsen with even more tubes in the chain. This was not the case here, and if anything this has improved. It's a bit of a head scratcher really. But with all these other improvements, it makes me wonder what is really going on with the old Denon preamp, and why the Bellari isn't more "lush" sounding. On Bass performance, there is nothing extra here, maybe even a slight loss of deep bass energy but not disappointing, especially when I hear more details from bass instruments themselves, which is more of an asset then a liability for me personally. Of course this may be cause for interconnect and tube experimentation.
Overall the Bellari is one sweet little preamp that appears to be a nice match-up to the AT440mla. I feel that I have struck some synergistic gold with it in my system, and it will be interesting to see how well it
continues to satisfy my cravings for high quality playback. The fact that it is single tube only, offers very
attainable options that might be fun to try. I would encourage anyone to just try it out, but be warned, you
may find yourself wanting to keep it. For now, I wouldn't want to be without it and this one has found a new home.
Cheers,
Joe
, makes me want to try one....Larry what's your dealer cost on that rig with that tube??
